P-38 Lightning - wheel well work April 30

Ah, yes. The small parts. They can try your patience at times. No matter how hard I try, I still manage to glue the part to the tweezers rather than the model.

To bend the parts, I just use a pair of tweezers that have a wide, flat end. I start the bend by placing the tweezers just ahead of the fold line. I press it against a piece of glass to finish it. Those little PE folding devices can get pretty pricey ! (I try to consider myself frugal, not cheap.)

Pixilater wrote:

Berny - I've probably used Eduard PE on a hundred kits. My first experience with PE were the steel frets found in the DML kits. If you can learn to use those successfully, the brass seems like a luxury. If you like the looks of PE, and want to gain confidence using it, Eduard's "Zoom" sets are a good choice. They usually cover just the cockpit, require little or no surgery to the plastic, and are reasonably priced. I admit to being a "PE junkie," since I won't build a kit now without it. It adds a few hours to each build, but I can't beat the detail it provides. Thanks again !

My problem with PE is each hand contains five thumbs when working with very small parts.  I even invested in a PE bending tool but still have problems with small parts.  Many years ago before PE and resin I would build parts out of plastic and wire.  It would take days or even weeks to build something that can be done now in only hours using AM parts.  One day I will master the art but for now I am trying to get my big fingers working together.

Thank you falcon, Wayne, Mel, Berny, and ruddratt !

Wayne - I mixed RLM 66 and flat black for the cockpit floor and boxes. The instrument panel is part of Eduard's prepainted PE (the only way you can get some of their stuff now), and it's very close to RLM 66. I wanted a wash to show on the floor and throttle quadrant, and I didn't want the instrument panel to appear too light. I chose a shade that was between RLM 66 and black for the floor. I like to keep my contrasts on the low side. The higher the contrast, the more "stark" it appears to me, and the less realistic.

Berny - I've probably used Eduard PE on a hundred kits. My first experience with PE were the steel frets found in the DML kits. If you can learn to use those successfully, the brass seems like a luxury. If you like the looks of PE, and want to gain confidence using it, Eduard's "Zoom" sets are a good choice. They usually cover just the cockpit, require little or no surgery to the plastic, and are reasonably priced. I admit to being a "PE junkie," since I won't build a kit now without it. It adds a few hours to each build, but I can't beat the detail it provides.

Thanks again !

Pix

The cockpit doesn't look flat black in yuor pictures.  Is it?

Thanks RedMax !

Some have mentioned a difficulty fitting the main wheel wells in the booms. I found a way to install them without alignment issues. I'll post some pics soon.

Thanks again !

Thanks Steve, Brian, and ruddratt !

Steve - you say "filling and sanding" as though it were a bad thing. It's just a part of building models, another thing you have to do. I'm building this kit as Richard Bong's "Marge," using the kit decals. Did you try using the suggested Gunze color for the blue? It's usually a dead-match for the decal color.

Brian - I'll get around to it someday. Too much stuff going on at the moment, though.

Thanks again !

Great work as always, pix! Thanks for sharing!

Looking really nice Pix!  I'm been working on the same kit for the last several weeks.  I have to say your cockpit looks awesome!  It's a very nice kit, but I've had to do tons of sanding, filing, etc, especially where the booms join the wings. 

Who's P-38 are you building? I'm planning on making mine the aircraft on the box - the Virginia Marie.  I don't want to use the medium blue decals that came with the kit but I'm having a tough time trying to mix the correct shade of blue to match the blue in the name decal.  Thanks for sharing!

Steve 

Thank you Fred, Jim, Karl, Marc, and Rick !

I'm going to the bench now to work on the wheel wells. This PE set is not for anyone who feels uncomfortable working with it. There are lots of parts. But, if you're like me, and enjoy the challenge, the set is great.

Thanks again !

Excellent work Pix.  Great job on the pit.

Regards,  Rick

Great work on the pit Bill.  That paint does like to chip off when bending the Eduard belts.  Nice match on the re-paint.

And BTW… if I forgot to thank you for the response to my email about commission builds… Thanks.  I ended up striking a deal with guy.  He wants a Tuskegee Airman a/c made since he is kind of a historian for the group… unofficially I think.  But he knows a couple of the surviving pilots and he is trying to arrange to have one come to my next club meeting.  If he does.   I do the build and he supplies the materials.